How good is Shirek capable of being?

[caulfield12]

What's his upside?

 

I've seen comparisons with Ely and Sean Tracey, so hopefully better than that?

 

Stuff? Who here has seen him pitch in the last couple of seasons in-person? Impressions?

[JPN366]

What's his upside?

 

I've seen comparisons with Ely and Sean Tracey, so hopefully better than that?

 

Stuff? Who here has seen him pitch in the last couple of seasons in-person? Impressions?

 

 

Swing man, 6th or 7th inning guy. He induces a lot of groundballs. I think he's capable of being someone you could rely on to pitch out of a jam. His fastball's about 92-93, I imagine he throws a sinker or splitter that's a little slower. Not sure about his offspeed stuff.

[NorthSideSox72]

I've written quite a bit about him, he's my AAP, so you can start with that thread as a research point. Further, he has a profile on futuresox.com. I'v reached out to him to try to do an interview, no response so far.

 

Long story short, Charlie was drafted later than his talent level. He was originally looking like a high round future pick out of Nebraska, with his plus velocity (he can hit 95, though he's more often 92-94) and movement on the fastball. But he had a bad year where he pitched bad enough to get dropped back in N's rotation, and had some personal struggles. But the Sox took a flyer on him, and he bit.

 

As he made his way through the minors, he always but up strong core numbers, with good control and very encouraging ground ball rates, but never struck out a ton of guys. He's often been in the 5-6 K/9 range. Last year he got a mid-season promotion to AA, and his core numbers still looked good, but his K rate dropped a lot. That worried people, and that's why he dropped back a bit on our prospect list (he also gave up a few HR's, more than usual). We said he needed to miss more bats. Well, so far this year, he seems to be doing that.